Orlando Premises Liability Attorneys

An injury accident can occur almost anywhere; however, when it occurs on someone else’s property, the owner of that property may be liable for the injuries sustained in the accident. Victims of these kinds of accidents, known in legal terms as premises liability accidents, may well suffer serious physical injuries and emotional trauma as a result of the negligence or wrongdoing of the property owner or manager.

If you have been injured in a premises liability accident, or if you lost a loved one as a result of one, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries or loss. We understand that no amount of money can truly compensate you for suffering a life-altering injury, much less for the loss of a family member; however, the negligent party should be identified and held responsible for the suffering and financial devastation they have caused. At Bailey Fisher, we work tirelessly to make that happen for premises liability accident victims and their families.

What Is a Premises Liability Accident?

Premises liability falls within the area of the law known as “torts.” Tort law broadly focuses on injuries to your person or property, while premises liability specifically addresses injuries to your person sustained while you are on the property of another. Most torts, including those involving premises liability, require a victim to prove negligence on the part of the defendant in order to be entitled to compensation for injuries. In legal terms, negligence has occurred when the defendant has breached a duty of reasonable care owed to the victim.

In the context of a premise liability accident, for instance, a property owner has a legal duty to keep the premises free from known hazards or those he could reasonably have known about. If the owner fails to keep the premises in a reasonably safe condition, free from hazards, it may be a breach of the duty of care that makes him liable for injuries that occur as a result.

Examples of Premises Liability Accidents

The term “slip and fall” accident is often used to refer to a wide variety of scenarios that result in a premises liability accident involving injury. The term is a bit of a misnomer, however, given that only some premises liability accidents can be described as an actual “slip and fall.” While a great number of the injuries that occur on commercial properties involve accidents where guests to the property slip on water or other liquids leaking onto or spilled on the floor that are not cleaned up and are allowed to remain on the floor because of inadequate maintenance practices, there are other scenarios that may form the basis of a premises liability lawsuit, including, but not limited to:

Accidents that involve tripping and falling because of design or construction defects of the property, code violations, or lack of proper maintenance of the premises. Examples include a loose mat in the doorway, changes in elevations or other obstacles that violate building or safety codes, or poorly maintained flooring surfaces.
A diner who becomes seriously ill from food poisoning at a restaurant.
A guest at a hotel who is seriously injured during a robbery on the property where there is inadequate or negligent security.
A guest who drowns in a pool when the lifeguard leaves her post.
A shopper who is injured because of an escalator in need of repair.
A visitor to a construction site who gets seriously injured when construction materials fall on him.
A child who is seriously injured on an amusement park ride.
A guest at a hotel who falls down a flight of stairs because of inadequate lighting.

If you or someone in your family has been seriously injured on someone else’s property, as in these examples, help is available. The experienced attorneys of Bailey Fisher are committed to helping you hold the responsible parties accountable for their negligence and helping you obtain the full financial compensation you deserve.

Understanding the Duty of Care

A property owner’s potential liability begins with the owner’s duty of care owed to the visitor. The extent of the duty owed to that visitor depends on the visitor’s status, or reason for being on the property in the first place. Visitors fall into three categories, with the duty of care owed to the visitor depending on the category, as follows:

Invitee — The law imposes the highest duty of care on a property owner when the visitor is classified as an invitee, someone who is lawfully on the property at the express or implied invitation of the owner to conduct business of some sort. A diner at a restaurant, a repairman at your home, or a client in an office are all examples of an invitee. A property owner must keep the property in a reasonably safe condition and either repair or provide notice of any known dangers on the premises. In addition, the owner could be held liable for dangerous conditions that they should have known about by reasonable inspection, yet did not.
Uninvited Licensee — An “uninvited licensee” is a person who chooses to come upon the property of another solely for their own convenience without invitation either expressed or reasonably implied under the circumstances. An uninvited licensee is neither an invitee nor a trespasser, but rather, a legal status in between whose presence is neither sought nor forbidden, but merely permitted or tolerated by the landowner. For example, a person walking his dog who takes a shortcut across unfenced and unposted property owned by another may be an uninvited licensee on the property. The duty of care owed to an uninvited licensee is similar to that of an invitee; however, there is a subtle difference. For an uninvited licensee, a property owner must keep the property in a reasonably safe condition and eliminate known unsafe conditions, as well as warn of known dangers, but is not legally responsible for unknown hazards on the property even if these could have been discovered.
Trespasser – a trespasser is a visitor who is not lawfully on the property. Once a trespasser is “discovered” on the property, an owner must still exercise reasonable care for that individual’s safety, but has no legal responsibility if the owner is not aware of the trespasser’s presence on the property.

Get Help from Experienced Orlando Premises Liability Attorneys

The premises liability attorneys at Bailey Fisher have extensive experience in premises liability and other personal injury cases and bring a strong sense of commitment to clients who have suffered serious, often life-changing injuries due to someone else’s negligence or wrongdoing.

If you or a family member has been seriously injured while on the property of another individual or business, or if you have lost a loved one as a result of injuries he or she sustained while on the property of another, we want to help you hold the responsible parties accountable for their negligence and help you obtain the compensation you deserve for medical expenses, pain, suffering, and loss.

Call us at 407-628-2929 or submit our online form today. One of our experienced Orlando premises liability attorneys will evaluate your case for free and help you decide on your best course of action. For viable premises liability cases, we will follow up with the necessary legal action to hold the responsible party accountable for their negligence and recover the financial compensation you deserve for your pain, suffering, and losses.